Ask most Americans which direction Canada is, and they'll point north without thinking. That's true for almost the entire border. But there's one famous exception, and it's in Michigan. If you stand on the riverfront in downtown Detroit and look across the water at Canada, you're actually looking south.
The Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario, sits on the south bank of the Detroit River, directly across from Detroit. The river begins by flowing east to west out of Lake St. Clair, then curves and runs north to south toward Lake Erie. Because of that bend, Windsor ends up south of downtown Detroit. It's the southernmost major city in Canada.
A River That's Really a Strait
The Detroit River runs about 28 miles from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie and is only half a mile to two and a half miles wide. Technically, it's both a river and a strait, a narrow passage connecting two large bodies of water. In fact, that's how it got its name: early French settlers called it the strait, and the French word for strait is détroit.
Today, the two cities are linked by the Ambassador Bridge, the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel, the Gordie Howe International Bridge, and a railway tunnel. The Detroit–Windsor Tunnel is even owned equally by the two cities. Their fortunes have long been tied together too, especially through the auto industry after a U.S.–Canadian auto trade pact in the 1960s.
Almost Called South Detroit
Windsor's name was nearly something else. When the town was aiming to become a city in 1892, popular name suggestions included South Detroit, The Ferry, Windsor, and Richmond. Windsor won, honoring Windsor Castle in England.
Windsor's French roots still show. Streets carry French family names like Ouellette and Drouillard, and the long, narrow blocks reflect old French farms that stretched back from the river. A sizable French-speaking minority still lives in the area.
A Crossing Full of History
That narrow river has seen a lot. Before the Civil War, the Detroit River was a final stop on the Underground Railroad and the busiest crossing point along the U.S.–Canada border for people escaping slavery. A Windsor church founded by those refugees is now a National Historic Site of Canada. Windsor also saw fighting during the War of 1812, and the François Bâby House, an important site from that war, is a National Historic Site as well.
During Prohibition, from 1920 to 1933, alcohol was banned in the United States but legal across the river in Ontario. Rum-runners smuggled liquor across by boat in summer and drove over the frozen river in winter. Some overloaded cars fell through the ice, and car parts from that era are still occasionally found on the river bottom. Detroit's Purple Gang used violence to control the smuggling route, which became known as the Detroit-Windsor Funnel.
Even Farther South
Windsor isn't the only part of Canada that dips surprisingly far south. Canada's southernmost point is Middle Island, a tiny island in Lake Erie that is part of Point Pelee National Park. It lies at about 41.7 degrees north latitude, just a few hundred feet from the U.S. maritime border.
So if you ever win a geography trivia night with this one, give credit to a bend in the Detroit River. Sometimes the shortest way to Canada really is due south, right across the water.
